Swatch and Review: Avon Eye Dimensions Eyeshadow Pt.2!

So, I loved the first two Eye Dimensions palettes that I picked up so much that over the last month I have picked up the other four! Here they are:

*side note: all swatches are dry, over bare skin

Sultry Smoke is a great neutral trio for doing a shimmering smokey eye. The top shade is a metallic silvery white with very fine silver glitters throughout. This shadow is pretty well pigmented and blends very easily. The middle shade is a shimmery taupe with tons of fine silver glitter throughout. The pigmentation of this shade is very good, and it blends really well. The bottom shadow is a matte black. It does seem like there is a tiny bit of shimmer to it, but that blends out on the skin leaving a matte finish. The pigmentation is decent, and it builds up and blends very easily.

Neutral Haze is also a gorgeous neutral palette for anyone that loves their brown shadows. The top shade is the same as the top shade from the Sultry Smoke trio, that shimmering, sparkly, silvery white. The middle shade is a beautiful metallic soft mauve. Excellent pigmentation and blendability! The bottom shade is a deep shimmering chocolate brown with fine bronze glitters throughout. Again, excellent pigmentation and blendability.

Bronze Star is such a fun palette! The top shade is a shimmery soft golden yellow with tons of fine golden glitters throughout. The pigmentation of this one is a little light but it almost suits it to not be heavily pigmented, it gives it a slightly ethereal feel:-) It builds and blends well. The middle shade is a metallic golden fern green. Excellent pigmentation and blends well. The bottom shade is metallic golden bronze. Again, excellent pigmentation and blends really well.

Diamante Purple is the only one of these palettes that I was not terribly impressed with. The top shade was impossible for me to pick up accurately with my camera. In the palette it looks like a shimmery white base shadow with a ton of fine silver and holographic glitters in it(only the silver glitter would pick up with my camera, so you will just have to imagine the swatch above having twice as much shimmer!). The texture of the shadow is drier than the rest of the shadows from this collection, and somehow it actually applies transparent? It's hard to see in the pic above but virtually none of the white from the base shadow shows up, so you just end up with a lot of sparkle and no actual color. I think this shadow will work great as one of those new sparkle overlay/topcoat type shadows that I've been seeing popping up all over the place, but if you are looking for that white base to translate to the eye it's not going to happen. The middle shade is this amazing shimmery medium violet with a slight pink shift in the pan. Unfortunately, this shadow is a little on the dry side too. It does show up true to color on the skin, but you really have to build it up to get the intensity you see in the pan. The bottom is a deeper shimmering violet with tons of fine purple sparkle throughout. Again, a little on the dry side so it has to be blended and built up a bit to get that same pan intensity. Even though this is my least favorite of the six, I did get an idea while swatching this for an easy sparkly purple smokey eye tutorial. So keep an eye out for that!:-)

All in all, I really love the colors in these Eye Dimensions palettes. The metallic shades are a dream to work with, buttery smooth and great pigmentation!

FOTD: Simple Blue Shadow Look

I really loved this blue shadow worn on the Marc Jacobs Spring '14 runway, and every time I see the new Marc by Marc Jacobs ads(with the same makeup) I get an overwhelming urge to put a bunch of blue shadow on :-)

I decided to do my own version today, a little toned down and not quite as bright as the catwalk version!

This is definitely one of the easier eye looks that I've ever done. I just used my Avon Extra Lasting eyeshadow pencil in Sapphire as a base all over the lid, topped it with the periwinkle blue shade from the True Color 8-in-1 palette in The Blues, and finished with one coat of the new Avon Aerovolume mascara.

The rest of the face was kept pretty bare with just a little Ideal Luminous blush in Coral Radiance and some Totally Kissable lipstick in Natural Glow patted on the lips.

I think that the mark. i-mark shadow in Electro would be a really good option for doing the brighter version of this look:-)

Swatches!: Ben Nye Sparklers in Silver Prism & Black Diamond

I got these two glitters in the mail yesterday and...wow! These are the Ben Nye Sparklers loose glitter, and they are only $6 on the Camera Ready Cosmetics website. These were actually a last minute add to my order just so I could bump the total up a little to get free shipping and I'm so glad I picked these up! I've been looking for a black glitter for a long time, but every one that I picked up looked dirty(literally,like black glitters and dust and sand mixed together). This Black Diamond glitter(the one on the right), however, looks exactly how I wanted it too. Jet black, slick, and sparkly. The glitters are medium in size. There are some smaller silver and holographic glitters mixed in to add to the shine, but just a little so that it maintains the integrity of a really black glitter and doesn't muddy the color. The Silver Prism glitter(on the left) is one of those glitters that I'm never going to be able to catch accurately with my camera. It is pretty in the picture, but SO much better in person. A combination of fine silver and holographic glitters, it's one of those that shifts color as the light hits it from different angles. I am going to try to do haul video of these and the other items I got from Camera Ready Cosmetics soon, and I will post that here when I do because I think the true brilliance of that silver glitter is going to be best caught on the video camera:-)

If you want to check out the Ben Nye Sparklers for yourself, head over to the Camera Ready Cosmetics website!

Here's my Camera Ready Cosmetics Haul. You can see the glitters around minute 6:

#ManiMonday: Retro Sparkly Spring Nails

I got the idea for these nails from Madelaine Poole's book 'Nails, Nails, Nails!". They didn't turn out how I imagined in my head, but it's not too shabby for a first try:-)

For this look I used:
Zoya polish in Jacqueline as the base on all of the nails
Zoya polishes in Cole and Dot for the design
Zoya glitter top coat in Monet
Sally Hansen I Heart Nail Art fine nail art pen in Black

To do:
1. Paint all nails with two coats of your base color
2. Using whatever colors you want for the design, starting half way down the nail

Swatch & Review: Avon Eye Dimensions Eyeshadow- Khaki Chic and Sweetheart Plum

First, let me start this off by saying that I'm in LOVE with these little palettes! They are chock full of shimmery, glittery goodness, and I really just can't get enough of them(I have two more on the way). That being said, if you are a matte shadow girl these are not going to be your cup of tea.

The pigmentation of both of these palettes is really good. The staying power is also really good. The fallout factor is pretty high, so I would recommend (1)using an eyeshadow primer, (2)patting the shadows on, as opposed to using sweeping motions, and (3) doing your eye makeup first so that you can wipe any fallout away before applying your foundation etc.

Here is the Khaki Chic palette:

Khaki Chic is a very sparkly neutral palette. The top shade is a metallic soft gold. The texture is very soft, almost creamy, and it blends really well. The middle shade is a shimmery golden taupe with with fine golden glitter throughout. This one has a slightly drier texture, but still blends really well. The bottom shade is shimmering deep khaki green with fine golden glitter throughout. It has the same texture as the middle shade, and blends really well. Again, excellent pigmentation for all three shades.

Here is the Sweetheart Plum:

Sweetheart Plum is more of a warm toned purple palette. The top shade is a super pale matte mauve base with micro-fine golden shimmers throughout. The texture is a little on the dry/powdery side, but it still blends well. Even though it's technically not matte, the shimmers are so small that they practically disappear on the skin making it a nearly matte shadow. The middle shade is really hard to explain, kind of a shimmery rose gold/soft plum duochrome with fine golden glitter throughout. It's very sparkly, and blends out well. The bottom shade is a metallic plum. Absolutely gorgeous! This is one of my favorite purple palettes that I have ever owned!

I haven't tried these shadows wet yet, but given the excellent pigmentation and high shimmer factor I feel like they would be amazing used wet!

Have you guys tried any of these Eye Dimensions shadows yet? What do you think?

Here are a couple of looks that I have done with these palettes: